The news that Formula 1 s going to Bahrain next weekend predictably caused a burst of violence on the streets on Bahrain, as protesters hurled firebombs and riot police responded by firing tear gas. The FIA issued a statement on Friday morning Shanghai time and a few hours later Bernie Ecclestone held a five minute meeting with team bosses in Shanghai. No-one voiced any complaints at the meeting, but afterwards many of them said that in reality they had no choice but to go and were not happy about the situation.
And while Bernie Ecclestone continued to say that there was nothing happening in Baharain, on the streets protesters chanted anti-government slogans.
“We don’t get involved in politics in a country. We go to a country like we come here. They will sort out their internal problems, I’m quite sure,” he said.
And there we have it. How deluded people can be when consumed by greed. If something terrible does not happen next weekend, then all those involved will be very fortunate. Keep safe Joe.
Why doesn’t anyone have the balls to say this is morally wrong and it’s dangerous so shove it? I guess $$$ talks and contracts are binding, but didn’t Alain Prost not race in South Africa on moral grounds?
I think I may have said that
Issues notwithstanding, isn’t there some FIA rule that penalises any GP that’s scrapped for 2 consecutive years.
I thought that I read somewhere that if force majeure applies twice in 2 years that the GP is auto removed from the calender and knocked down the list for reinstatement.
Could that be why everyone is scrabbling around so hard to keep it going.
Right or wrong ?
Such things are in confidential contracts
Thanks Joe.
So its possible that is the case, but it probably varies GP to GP – country to country ?
B.E.Is a certifiable nit wit.
I think a better description would be to say he’s a plunderer extraordinaire.
Joe, I very much believe in the stand you have taken with Bahrain. Months ago, you started writing about your concerns and at times you have seemed like a lone voice.
However, I am getting a bit worried now. My friends in Bahrain say many people have been whipped up by the media and are getting angrier and braver. There is no doubting that there was trouble before but the media have built this up to such a degree, it is the direct cause of the latest trouble. If people die it will be, in part, because of this media frenzy.
I am not laying any blame on individuals but it does scare me that the media did not think about what their actions might cause… or maybe they did and do not feel any responsibility.
I just watched on Sky, the not very edifying spectacle of Martin Brundle and Johnny Herbert, with their employers’ hands operating their mouths up the back of their jackets, spouting platitudes on Bahrain. It reminded me of the man who jumped off the top of the Empire State Building, shouting as he passed the 32nd floor “so far, so good”.
Wilson
Well, they are paid alot now to ‘speak Murdoch’.
And then gave a quite disgusting interview to Sky…apparently asking him if he’s going to attend is a “stupid question that will get a stupid answer”.
Is that going to encourage anyone to sponsor this amoral circus?
Hi Joe, I really like most of your stories, posts and books but I have to say that your crusade on the Bahrain issue (and pure quantum of stories) seems a little out of proportion. I don’t see any “we shouldn’t be in china stories” – arguably a country with the worst human rights record in the world – but keeps their issues quiet by banning journalists. Not a gripe, just an observation. Keep up the good work.
I have explained this one over and over, so you cannot have read much on the blog. It is about the politicisation of races. If we judged countries on human rights issues we would not have many Grands Prix. The issue is whether or not the race is being used. This one clearly is. It is also about physical danger. I think it is wrong to send teams into Bahrain.
It really is astonishing to see how stubborn and reckless Bernie and the FIA are being. I had assumed that as the event drew closer they would be more nuanced in their support of the race going ahead so that they could u-turn if necessary. It seems that they have no put themselves in such a position that it is impossible for them to cancel it now, and that you guys will all be forced to go.
Thank you for your reporting on this, Joe. As ever, your blog has had the most thoughtful evaluations of the situation and I hope that you, as well as the rest of the F1 circus, are safe next week.
That’s a very funny typo you’ve got hidden in there, Joe
Just for you.
Joe,
I was just checking out a map of Bahrain. The track is about 15 miles south of the capital with a lot of Shia towns in between.
Is most of the circus staying in hotels near the capital?
Yes. Team are going to be using convoys. It is the journalists and the catering staff etc that I worry about.
And if protesters block the only road. . .
Be as safe as possible Sir.
Do you ever feel your entry to race circuits is at risk? Presumably your pass is issued by FIA or FOM and your excellent reporting must upset those organisations at times.
Sometimes, if one rattles too many cages at the same time.
And chucked Molotov cocktails at police, who were in armoured vehicles shooting teargas and so on.
Not so sure that they’ll be welcoming to those on the F1 trail.
But don’t worry, Bernie says it will be fine, Todt says it will be absolutely fine, and the teams’ Principals and Drivers aren’t sweating- they’ve got their security lined up. Where does that leave the rest of you?
“Ah, don’t worry. Its just kids having fun. Its no different to London, Oxford or Knightsbridge infact. Honest.”
Pretty impressive images. I’m mainly surprised at how precise their cocktail-throwing on running armoured cars is.
Shows some practice.
Be careful, Joe, as it looks you wil be like Cassandra, i.e., mostly righ in your predictions
“They will sort out their internal problems, I am sure.” Just like Castro and Mao, right Bernie? But then again, if anyone would understand that style of leadership, it would be Bernie, wouldn’t it?
Just for some perspective:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Northern_Ireland_riots
These protests were on a considerable scale, and a gun was fired at police. 600 people were protesting or rioting. No mention in the international press. And this summer Northern Ireland will riot again – but will not be reported anywhere. Having read about tonights “protest” in Bahrain, it is just a skiffle involving a few male youth.
And what about London? The 2011 riots only cancelled a few football matches.
I think Bernie is 100% correct. The amount of hyperbole from the media over this is completely over the top. And anyway does F1 not still goes to Sao Paulo after Button got involved in an incident there.
Crikey, no wonder my mum’s cousin in Belfast was saying she was worried for the world again. Not something ladies of her generation get much bothered about any more.
Cynically, of course Bernie is right. There are too many hotspots to track, the media is fickle. d-notes or the similar get issued all around the world, news channels have political agendas. On and on and on. But that doesn’t mean this is the right time to wear your petrified heart on your wrist, or waltz F1 into the line of fire. It’s the very FU of it all that must gall who’s on the street.
What is wrong with “We always care for the people of the nations we visit and wish them well, and are here to promote a sporting event, not a political stance. For many counties we visit, and regions in our traditional heartland, at least in terms of motorsport, hosting a F1 race has been seen as a symbol of growth and stability and we hope that our values of competition and fair play can be recognised by everyone.” Yeah, teleprompter gush, and Bernie probably couldn’t deliver it, but if we are going there, why suddenly stop selling the values we want recognised? Fer feck’s sake *remind* people F1 is not about all of the politics. These off the cuff Bernie-isms I think conflate the appearance of disinterest.
As for teleprompter gush, a doozy of a scene in Wag The Dog is when the President won’t read what Dustin Hoffman’s Hollywood producer wrote for him. So Hoffman gets all the secretaries in to the oval office, delivers, and they leave hankies to eyes. You have to *sell* the line.
For me, sadly, this race is just one of the things which is making me disappointed in F1. Thank God for Perez’s brilliance the other day, because that’s all that got me going. Funny thing is, now I’m paying for the races, I’m even less inclined to turn on the telly. I know that’s perverse, but it’s a kind of petulant protest, something like “yeah, so I paid you, now shut up, i’ll turn you on when the grid forms”. Thereby avoiding being as fed up at Brundle et.al. as Wilson and others evidently are. Someone, somewhere else, will figure out how to script a decent pre-race show, and before long there’ll be a separate audience not paying attention to Sky or the beeb. I was once told I had a radio voice but I think that was only half of what they meant . . . still, I believe it’s dead air right now, those slots, lots of lost sponsor exposure, and nature likes to fill voids.
Tempted to suggest, that GP+ might even be split into two parts, one on Saturday. I don’t know how far that would disrupt the flow of writing, but I think there is a hard core of fans who are simply turned off by all the television coverage padding, and not so bent an idea sneakily marketing to the probably not small contingent who must be downloading just the action, who might well want to sit down with good things to read in a traditional 2 day routine.
What I think simply isn’t sinking in at any level, is that F1 is going to have to be more sensitive wherever it goes. The world simply is more sensitive, more connected, and although we’ve had this internet thing a good long while now, people are waking up to the facility, in no small part I believe because laws in our technologically advanced countries increasingly threaten to take away the freedom of the facility. Interested Party wrote the other day that his big name PR clients simply almost never put their foot in it now. That was about Lotus’s amazing cockup, but he could as well have been talking about F1 and the FIA in general. Whose to say a race at Paul Ricard couldn’t be road blocked by protesting lorry drivers? (wow, that would not take many lorries) No way are protests significant enough to make F1 a by-standing target confined to Bahrain. Time to learn lessons from this.
There was a nationwide lorry strike threat which affected Magny Cours one year, but F1 ingenuity got around it, IIRC.
True
Ahh, that’s reason why I was thinking along the lines of strikes, bless the wonderful French haulage industry . . I guess I meant if there was more than your usual union militancy. Still, dammit, i remember reading something at the time, how what you mention got busted by Bernie and the team crewmasters, would love to read again. Was definitely a time F1 was way cooler, and telling striking union reps to go shove their heads was hearty stuff. How did that turn around so quickly? I really want the lets try hard see what we can do atmosphere back. How come we lost the cool?
I wonder what that meeting between Ecclestone and the team bosses was like?
I’m picturing something like that famous scene in the film, “The Untouchables,” with Bernie walking around behind them, as they sit around a conference table, baseball bat in hand, “We’re going to Bahrain. Anyone got a problem with that….yeah, didn’t think so.”
Bernie is sweet and adorable human being. He told a few jokes and everyone agreed it was a good idea to go. It lasted five minutes. They all left the room and then started telling their buddies in the media that they did not want to go. It was, in other words, business as usual.
I think Bernie has no need to do that. Just ask yourself the question – will any of the teams risk getting no money and even being out of contention not just for one race, but possibly face a few races ban or even getting dropped out of the championship by NOT going to BAhrain.
That is the best reason none of them objected to Bernie telling them it was on, as planned.
What puzzles me is how Damon Hill went in a week from reasoned and nuanced objection to full toe-the-party-line, yes-Mr-Ecclestone-may-I-please-have-another submission.
Could Damon be eyeing the FIA presidency???
You are, at least, partially to blame for this.
What?
LOL @ more trolling. I’m finding this so fascinating. Makes me feel as if the FIA/FOM heads will seriously be on the chopping block.
Come on noahracer, I want to hear this.
Slightly surprised not to have seen your usual posts of the practice and qualifying results. I rely on seeing them here when its a far fly-away race. And it would get us back to the racing.
So Bernie is right and about 6 billion people are wrong. I see. I am deeply concerned by the fact that the announcement that the race would go ahead sparked an increased level of unrest.
I would deeply love to see that odious little creep squirm in the hubris of having to u-turn at the last minute. However I suspect that the race will go ahead and who knows at what human cost the subsequent hubris might be.
Joe, don’t know if it will add anything new for you but noticed a comment I’ve not seen before to a Motorsport magazine article y’day.
See the one by Adrian Muldrew, April 13.
http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/f1/opinion/why-f1-shouldnt-go-to-bahrain/#comments
No, it is not new.
Should not be going. Period.
Wouldn’t it be ironic if it all went off perfectly peacefully but Neil Horan showed up.